Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Scienze Riproduttive ed Odontostomatologiche Tecniche di sincronizzazione ovocitaria. La sincronizzazione follicolare Carlo Alviggi
The rational of Follicular synchronization and IVF Scheduling IVF treatment to meet the organizational needs of both patients and IVF centers, might have important economic and practical implications To reduce follicular size discrepancies and to enhance ovarian response in recombinant FSH protocol Endogenous FSH suppression before starting ovarian stimulation is an efficient way to schedule ovarian stimulation Erik E Hauzman et al., Reprod Biol Endocrinol 2013 Fanchin et al., Hum Reprod 2003
GnRH-AGONIST GnRH-ANTAGONIST
GnRH agonists vs GnRH antagonists 73 RCTs, 12,212 participants Endpoints: Comparable Live birth: OR 1.02, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.23; p = NS Increased OHSS after agonist: OR 0.61, 95% C 0.51 to 0.72; p < 0,05 Al Inany et al (2016) Cochrane Database Syst Rev
GnRH agonist versus GnRH antagonist: Follicular growth dynamics FSH window hcg if 2 or 3 follicles 17 mm FSH window FSH window hcg if 2 or 3 follicles 17 mm FSH levels FSH threshold CD21 CD1 S1 S3 S5 S7 S9 S11 S13 hcgd CD21 CD1 S1 S3 S5 S7 S9 hcgd Huirne et al. (2007) Hum Reprod; 22: 2805 13
Follicular Syncrhonization and IVF: Strategies GnRH antagonist Oral contraceptive Estradiol Progestins and Progestatives
Selection criteria Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials of hormonal pretreatment in subfertile women undergoing IVF/ ICSI Intervention Combined OCP Progestogen Estrogen Conclusion: No evidence of effect was found with regard to the number of live births when using a pre-treatment Smuders et al., Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2010
Use of OCs for follicles sychronization Kind of OCs used : Ethinyl estradiol 30 μg + 150 μg desogestrel (Cédrin-Durnerin 2007; Kolibianakis 2006; Obruca 2001; Raoofi 2008; Rombauts 2006) Ethinyl estradiol 30 μg + 150 μg levonorgestrel daily (Huirne 2006a; Huirne 2006b) Ethinyl estradiol 35 μg and 2 mg cyproterone acetate (Hwang 2004) Starting day: Among trials the starting days of pre-treatment varied from cycle day one to five
Is oral contraceptive pill pretreatment associated with the probability of ongoing pregnancy? A meta-analysis of RCTs in which comparative data could be retrieved regarding ongoing pregnancy in GnRH antagonist ovarian stimulation after OCP pretreatment versus no OCP pretreatment No statistically significant difference in terms of ongoing pregnancy rate was found OCP No OCP OR 0.74 (0.53 to 1.03) Griesinger et al., Fertil Steril 2008
Duration of gonadotropin stimulation and gonadotropin consumption were significantly increased after OCP pretreatment Griesinger et al., Fertil Steril 2008
Higher Gns consumption and more stim days were observed in pretreat OCP vs no treatement a) Amount Gns b) Days of stimulations Smuders et al., Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2010
Follicular Syncrhonization and IVF How to do? Oral contraceptive Estradiol Progestins and Progestatives
Use of Estrogen for follicles sychronization Kind of Estrogen used : Micronized 17-E2 (Cédrin-Durnerin 2007; Fanchin 2003) Estradiol valerate (Franco Jr 2003; Blockeel 2012) Starting day: The starting days of pre-treatment among trials varied from cycle day 15 to 21
Luteal estradiol pre-treatment coordinates follicular growth during controlled ovarian hyperstimulation with GnRH antagonists An RCT involved 90 IVF-embryo transfer candidates who were randomly pre-treated with 17-beta-E 2 (4 mg/day) from day 20 until next cycle day 2(n= 47) -Control group: on day 3, all women started r-fsh treatment (n= 43) Fanchin et al., Hum Reprod 2003
Luteal E2 administration reduces the pace of growth, improves size homogeneity of antral follicles on day 8 of r-fsh treatment and increases the number of follicles reaching maturation Endpoints assessed: On day 8, follicles were smaller (P < 0.001) and their size discrepancies attenuated (P< 0.001) in the E 2 group compared with the control group. More >or=16 mm follicles, mature oocytes and embryos in the E 2 group Fanchin et al., Hum Reprod 2003
Pretreatment with valerate estradiol modifies reproductive outcomes in IVF? Population: Eighty-six women undergoing ovarian stimulation for IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection Methods: 86women undergoing ovarian stimulation for IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection were The control group (n= 42) received a standard ovarian stimulation protocol The pretreatment group (n = 44 received oestradiol valerate at a daily dose of 2 mg from day 25 of the preceding cycle onwards, during 6 10 consecutive days, depending on the day of the week Blockeel C et al., Reprod Biomed Online 2012
The proportion of patients undergoing oocyte retrieval during a weekend day which was significantly lower in the pretreatment group but clinical pregnancy rates per started cycle were similar Blockeel C et al., Reprod Biomed Online 2012
Estrogen vs no pre-treatment in GnRH antagonist cycles is associated more oocytes retrieved but a higher amount of gonadotrophin therapy required a) n.oocytes retrieved b) amount of gonadotropin consumed Smuders et al., Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2010
Follicular Syncrhonization and IVF: Strategies How to do? Oral contraceptive Estradiol Progesterone and derivates
Use of Progestins for follicles sychronization Kind of progestins used: Norethisterone 10 mg/day (Cédrin-Durnerin 1996; Cédrin-Durnerin 2007; Ditkoff 1996; Engmann 1999; Hugues 1994) Medroxyprogesterone acetate 10 mg daily (Aston 1995) Starting day: Among trials the starting days of pre-treatment varied from cycle day one to nineteen
Progesterone pre-treatment vs placebo or no pre-treatment in GnRH agonist cycles is associated with more clinical pregnancies (Peto OR 1.95, P= 0.007) and fewer ovarian cysts (Peto OR 0.21, P< 0.00001) a) clinical pregnancies a) ovarian cysts Smuders et al., Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2010
Follicular Syncrhonization and IVF How to do? Oral contraceptive Estradiol Progestins Is there a better method?
Are there differences in ongoing pregnancy rates between GnRH antagonist IVF cycles scheduled with OCPs or E2 valerate? RCT :100 women were included in the study, randomized and assigned toeither the OCP or E 2 pretreatment arms in 1:1 ratio the OCP group started with the pill (30 μg of ethinyl E 2 plus 150 μg of levonorgestrel on day 1 or 2 of menses prior the IVF cycles E 2 valerate group started with 4 mg/die orally for 5 12 days, on day 20 of the cycle preceding the IVF/ICSI until the day before the initiation of ovarian stimulation Erik E Hauzman et al., Reprod Biol Endocrinol 2013
There were no statistically significant differences in ongoing pregnancy rates between pretreatment with OCP and E2 Significantly more days of pretreatment with OCPcompared to E 2 (14.5 ±1.7 vs. 7.8 ± 1.9 days, P <0.001) were necessary before starting stimulation Limitation of the study is its sample size. In fact, with 50 patients in each arm of the study, only a difference of >26% could have been detected with 80% power, at a 0.05 significance level
Advantages of E 2 pre-treatment compared to OCP -Pretreatment is shorter with E 2 than with OCPs -Using E 2, GnRH antagonist cycles can be started in a scheduled manner even in patients who have objections to or present contraindications for taking OCPs even for a short period -Avoiding OCP pretreatment, we can give them one more chance to get pregnant spontaneously in the cycle preceding IVF
Effects of oral contraceptive, synthetic progestogen or natural estrogen pre-treatments on the hormonal profile and the antral follicle cohort before GnRH antagonist protocol Multicenter RCT involving 93 women undergoing an IVF/ICSI cycle Group A: 21 COCs ethinyl estradiol30 μg + desogestrel 150 μg Group B: 23 norethisterone 10 mg/day Group C: 25 micronized 17-βE 2 2 mg twice a day Group D: No pretreatment C Durnerin et al. 2007
No differences with respect of live birth rate, number of embryos and number of oocytes was observed between groups Heterogeneous follicular cohort was observed in natural estrogen or no pretreatment groups, however estradiol pretreatment was associated with lower FSH consumption C Durnerin et al. 2007
Take home messanges Although synchronization of follicles is improved comparing with antagonist regimens, in agonist regimens an increased risk OHSS is well documented Synchronization in antagonist cycles aim to reduce follicular size discrepancies and to enhance ovarian response in recombinant FSH protocol No evidence of effect was found with regard to the number of live births when using a pre-treatment before stimulation At moment there is no a preferred method (COCs, progestins and estradiol) in terms of Live birth rate Compared with no treatment: Estradiol Is associated with reduced FSH consumption Progestins are associated with increased clinical pregnancy and reduced ovarian cyst COCs are associated with increased FSH consumption and duration of stimulation Estradiol pretreatment was associated with reduced FSH consumption and days of stimulation but increased heterogeneity in follicular cohort.
Acknowledgment G. De Placido I. Strina A. Conforti P. De Rosa S. Picarelli R. Vallone Special thank: Poseidon guys S. Esteves University of Naples Federico II C. Buonfantino L. Avino Reproductive Medicine IVF Unit Fertunina www.fertunina.it